C-Forum

I shattered the vinyl gunwale on my prelude this weekend, so I'm going to replace them with ash as I'd talked about months ago.

I was thinking that if I pre-drill pilot holes all I need to do is clamp it in place and screw through the hull, Is it that simple, and how many clamps do I need? Will two suffice or will I need enough to get a whole side clamped in place before I start screwing them in.

Not sure how many layers you are pre-drilling (ie inner gunwale, rx, outer), but the curvature will shift alignment slightly. I would think pre-drill the inner, clamp, then pilots through other layers would be safer.

jscottl67 wrote:Not sure how many layers you are pre-drilling (ie inner gunwale, rx, outer), but the curvature will shift alignment slightly. I would think pre-drill the inner, clamp, then pilots through other layers would be safer.

Hadn't thought of that, I wasn't planning of pre-drilling the plastic (twinlayer PE apparently) I'll probably hire some clamps, clamp, mark drill and screw then.

4-6 clamps are good and let you work more quickly. I have always drilled all ot once on the boat. Two drills or a keyless chuck helps so you can quickly switch between drilling and screwing. A combo bit that drills your pilot and countersink at once is handy, too. Dip your screws in your gunwale oil (Watco is great) before screwing.

I know Bob Britt (horizongfx) has recently put ash gunwales on a 'lude - contact him.

I just replaced the wood gunnels on my Ocoee. It was our first time to do it and we problably went overkill, but we used a lot of clamps. I think somewhere around 8-10 per side. We had both sides clamped into place, to ensure a proper fit before we drilled and screwed. We had also installed the thwarts to the inners before we started. We started in the center then worked our ways to the ends. We did 4 screws on the left side then did 4 on the right, alternating as we went. I had planned on predrilling but we decided to drill and screw as we went. Actually it went very well, much easier than I had expected.

i use 2 cheap spring clamps to hold the gunnels roughly in place, and one nice bar clamp close to the hole i'm about to drill. drill and screw one at a time, start ijn the middle work toward the ends. drill, countersink, screw, repeat. its not that hard.

The three times I've done this so far I worked from the ends clamping a 3' +/- section drilling then screwing. My gunwales have probably been overkill, but they've been sturdy. I'm throwing this out there because it sounds like we've all been doing it our own ways and its been working.